Thornton, Sharks crush Leafs

Hockey Betting Lines

12/03/2008 - San Jose, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Joe Thornton registered a goal and three assists to lead San Jose to a 5-2 victory over the Toronto Maple Leafs at the Shark Tank.

Devin Setoguchi, Dan Boyle, Joe Pavelski and Marc-Edouard Vlasic also scored for the red-hot Sharks, who won their eighth consecutive game. Evgeni Nabokov made 29 saves in the victory.

Nikolai Kulemin and Niklas Hagman scored for the Maple Leafs, who saw their brief two-game win streak halted. Vesa Toskala allowed five goals on 30 shots in the loss.

The game marked the return of longtime Sharks coach Ron Wilson to San Jose. Wilson, who is currently coaching the Leafs, took over as head coach of San Jose during the 2002-03 season and helped engineer a quick turnaround. After finishing that season in last place in the Pacific Division, Wilson's Sharks never finished lower than second place over the next four seasons and he is the club's all-time leader in wins with 206. He was fired in May.

The Sharks quickly grabbed a 1-0 lead on Setoguchi's goal 1:15 into the opening period. Thornton held control at the left point and fluttered a backhand pass towards the near circle. Setoguchi swooped in, gained control and lifted a soft backhander from near the left post that somehow found its way past Toskala.

A rather strange sequence of events led to a 2-0 Sharks lead at the 6:35 mark of the first period. A shot on goal missed high, hit the rear boards, bounced back, hit the goaltender's water bottle on top of the net, then hit the crossbar, bounced into the air and fell into the crease under Toskala. With several players from both teams in the crease fighting for control of the puck, one of Thornton's whacks was eventually enough and the disc slid underneath the Toronto netminder and over the goal line.

"I thought it was going to stay on top of the net, and I took a bat at it and it went in. Lucky bounce," said Thornton.

A pair of San Jose goals within a 68-second span in the latter stages of the first period -- one by Boyle and a power-play tally by Vlasic -- pushed the San Jose lead to 4-0.

"We came out real strong," said Thornton. "Really, the game was over after the first 10 minutes. It was a good game by us."

Midway through the middle session, Kulemin got the Leafs on the scoreboard with his fifth goal of the season via a rebound one-timer from the lower right circle after a shot by Hagman from the high slot was saved.

At the four-minute mark of the final stanza, Pavelski's short-handed goal gave San Jose a 5-1 advantage. Toronto blueliner Tomas Kaberle fell down while skating backwards and the miscue led to a 2-on-1 break. Pavelski skated with the puck down the right-wing side with Milan Michalek on the opposite wing. Pavelski faked a pass across the slot, cradled the puck back to his forehand and lit the lamp from inside the right circle.

Hagman's goal with 34 seconds remaining in regulation capped the scoring.

Game Notes

With this win, the Sharks set a league record for the most standings points (43) after the first 25 games of a season...Setoguchi has 13 goals this season...San Jose is 21-3-1 in 2008-09 and has not lost in regulation since November 9 at Phoenix...The Sharks were 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Leafs were held scoreless on their four chances with the extra skater.